The story's title character and protagonist inherits a large country house with spacious gardens from an uncle, Mr. Wilson, whom he had never met or communicated with in any way. The house had earlier belonged to James Wilson, Mr. Wilson's grandfather and Mr. Humphrey's great-grandfather. James Wilson had a maze constructed in the grounds of his house. After James Wilson's grandson inherited the house, the entrance to the maze was locked and nobody entered it for forty years. Mr. Humphreys finds that it is sometimes very easy to reach the center of the maze and sometimes very difficult. In the middle of the maze is a strange copper globe on a stone pillar. An inscription above the entrance to the maze speaks of a secret.